Values
A Stella is a pattern, and patterns are priced one coin at a time. This page is a series reference, not a price list.
The mintage chart leaves G, VF, and MS-63 blank. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not cover this piece. Do not paste an auction hammer into the grade columns.
If you have one and want to sell it, start with how to sell a coin collection. The three-dollar piece is a regular denomination. The Stella is not.
Key Dates
Two years, two obverses. This page will not bold one of them without a cited mintage and a publisher key list.
Errors
No table. The article names 1879 and 1880 and the two hairs. It does not print a mintage grid. The grid stays empty.
Quintuple Stella. A related pattern denominated at twenty dollars is a different piece. It is not a row on this chart.
Weights in the article. A comparison to a European standard is not a spec row on this page. Those figures are not copied into the spec table.
Auction prices. A sale result is not a mintage and not a guide price.
Compare the coin to the NGC Coin Explorer. We do not host their plates.
Varieties
Flowing hair and coiled hair are the two designs, in 1879 and 1880. They are patterns. This page does not treat one hair as a grade of the other.
- Flowing HairLiberty’s hair flows. The plate on this page is an 1879 Flowing Hair Stella. Do not grade every Stella as if it were that plate.
- Coiled HairThe hair is coiled. It is the other head, in both years the series uses. It is not a damaged Flowing Hair coin.
Names follow PCGS CoinFacts and NGC, the same publishers this site already cites. This is a name list, not a price list and not a count.
Mintage
Pattern strikes of 1879 and 1880. Flowing hair and coiled hair.
| Year | Mint | Mintage | G | VF | MS-63 |
|---|
Mintage: the note under this table names the page that printed each count. These figures are not an NGC Coin Explorer extract and they are not the 1974 Mint pamphlet.
Collector-standard year/mint presentation follows A Guide Book of United States Coins (the Red Book). These cells are Mint manufacture figures, not a Red Book net or melt.
Values: NGC US Coin Price Guide, retrieved 2026-08-21. Guide values, not offers. Not melt. NGC IDs link to the same publisher’s price-guide listing.
Key date names: PCGS CoinFacts (2026-08-21). Bold rows are only dates that publisher named.
The Wikipedia Stella article does not print a mintage table. This chart stays empty. The coin is a proof pattern, so a cited proof table would belong here. A remembered count does not. The quintuple pattern stays off.
The chart is empty on purpose. The Wikipedia article does not print a mintage table. Because the coin is a proof pattern, a future table of those proof counts would belong here. A remembered count does not.
The grade columns are empty because this site has no NGC guide extract for this coin.
Specifications
These are mint specs, not what a dealer pays. Wear can take a little weight off. We will not invent a tolerance. The article’s weight comparison is not used as a spec. No catalog page used here prints a thickness.
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Diameter | Not printed |
| Thickness | Not printed |
| Weight | Not printed |
| Composition | Not printed on a cited catalog page |
| Edge | Not printed on a cited catalog page |
| Designer | Charles E. Barber, flowing hair; George T. Morgan, coiled hair |
No catalog page used for the Stella prints a thickness. Diameter, weight, and thickness stay Not printed. A European weight comparison is not copied onto this coin.
Grading
A Stella is a proof pattern. Grade the hair and the star, and look for hairlines in the fields.
Flowing hair and coiled hair are two obverses. They are not two grades of one coin.
Key Diagnostic Areas
| Area | What to examine | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| The hair | Flowing hair or coiled hair. | Barber and Morgan made different obverses. Do not average them. |
| The star | ONE STELLA and 400 CENTS on the reverse star. | The star is the type. A quintuple pattern is a different piece. |
| Fields | Hairlines on a proof surface. | A wipe on a pattern is damage. It is not wear from circulation. |
Circulated & Mint State
These cards describe this coin, not a second copy of the P-1 through MS-70 chart. The shared numbers live on the glossary.
See graded photos. The photos that show what VF looks like live at PCGS. We do not host their plates. NGC Coin Explorer is another look if you want a second set.
What each named grade looks like on this design.
Poor
Poor
A disk you can still call a Stella if you already know the type.
- The hair and the star are gone.
- The date may be a shadow. Do not scrape it.
- Shine does not make this a better coin.
AG
About Good
You might read a digit. The high points on this Stella are already slick.
- The hair and the star are worn to a blank patch.
- If you cannot read the date without hoping, stay here.
- A flowing hair is still this grade if it is this worn.
Good
Good
The date is readable. The design is still mostly an outline.
- The hair and the star are flat. The type is an outline, not a portrait.
- The rim should be full enough to hold the legend.
- This is a worn coin, not a details story.
VG
Very Good
The date is clear. A little life returns away from the high points.
- Some leftover detail sits away from the hair and the star.
- The high points are still tired.
- Do not clean the date to “see it better.”
Fine
Fine
You can follow the design. The high points are outlined, not sharp.
- The hair and the star are outlined and flat — no real sharpness yet.
- The rest of the coin can look busier than the grade.
- The date should be clear. The mint mark should be too, if there is one.
VF
Very Fine
The type is doing real work. The hair and the star still decide.
- Leftover detail sits on the hair and the star. The centers are still the worn spot.
- Marks do not raise the grade.
- A regular flowing hair is still this grade if it is this worn.
EF
Extremely Fine
Most of the coin looks sharp. The high points tell on it.
- Light wear on the hair and the star.
- The rest of the coin can look better than the grade. Trust the high points.
- The date should be sharp.
AU
About Uncirculated
Almost no wear — and “almost” lives on the same high points.
- A trace of rub on the hair and the star.
- Luster may still sit in the fields. Rub on those high points is still rub.
- A bright coin with a slick high point is still slick.
Basal MS
Mint State
No wear. The fight is marks and luster, not how white the coin looks.
- No rub on the hair and the star.
- Marks and luster decide how this mint-state coin lives.
- A bright chewed-up coin is still chewed-up.
Choice
Choice Mint State
Still no wear. Cleaner fields than basal mint state.
- Same no-wear rule on the hair and the star.
- Fewer marks in the fields. Luster is more intact.
- White is not a grade.
Gem
Gem Mint State
A clean Stella for this type. Still mint state, still not a story.
- No wear on the hair and the star.
- Marks and luster, not a romance about a date or a white field.
- A slab is an opinion in plastic. The glossary has the numbers.
The issue is a proof pattern. This page does not invent a PR price grid. The proof numbers live on the glossary.
Copper color designations do not apply to this gold pattern. See the Lincoln Wheat cent and the glossary.
Overview
The Stella is the 1879–1880 pattern for a four-dollar gold coin. The name is the star on the reverse. Charles E. Barber designed the flowing hair. George T. Morgan designed the coiled hair. The coin was urged as a match for international gold and it was not adopted for circulation.
The photograph is an 1879 Flowing Hair Stella from the National Numismatic Collection. The Coiled Hair Stella is the other head. Do not grade every Stella as if it were that plate.
This page is a series article, not a shop listing.
History
John A. Kasson pushed the idea of a coin that would fit a European gold standard. The Mint struck patterns in 1879 and 1880. They were proofs, made for the proposal, not a circulation issue like the gold dollar. Congress did not turn the pattern into a regular denomination.
The article also mentions a quintuple Stella, a twenty-dollar pattern using a double-eagle portrait. That piece is not this page. Sale prices quoted in the article are market events. They are not mintages.
Design
Obverse: Liberty with flowing hair, or Liberty with coiled hair. Reverse: a star, inscribed ONE STELLA and 400 CENTS, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the date. The star is the type. It is not a mint mark.
Look at the hair. Flowing and coiled are the two designs. Hairlines in the fields on a proof are often cleaning, not wear.
People Also Ask
Why is the chart empty?
The Wikipedia Stella article does not print a year-by-year mintage table. This page will not supply the famous counts from memory.
Were Stellas made for circulation?
They were patterns, struck as proofs, for a proposed four-dollar coin. An empty chart is not a claim that none were struck.
What is the coiled hair?
A second obverse, by George T. Morgan. Charles E. Barber’s flowing hair is the other obverse. They are two designs, not two grades.
How much is a Stella worth?
This page does not print guide prices. The NGC US Coin Price Guide file retrieved 2026-08-21 does not include this coin. An auction result is not a guide cell.
Collector Considerations
Treat it as a pattern. A four-dollar claim on a coin that does not show the star is a different problem. The quintuple piece is larger and it is not this chart.
Do not fill the empty table with a number you remember from a price guide. When a cited table is in the file, the rows can be the proof counts, because this page is that issue.
The three-dollar piece is the regular gold coin of the same years. Read that page if the coin says three dollars.
A Final Word
The Stella page is two hairs, one star, and an empty chart. The missing table stays missing.
An auction story is not a mintage.